Vicar defends secular funeral comments

Father Ed Tomlinson, vicar of St Barnabas, wrote on his church’s blog earlier in the month that an increasing number of humanist funerals were taking place, while the traditional Christian funeral was being pushed to the margins.

“In the last few years it has become painfully obvious that many families I have conducted funerals for have absolutely no desire for any Christian content whatsoever,” said Fr Tomlinson.

|QUOTE|“I have stood at the crem like a lemon, wondering why on earth I am present at the funeral of somebody led in by the tunes of Tina Turner, summed up in pithy platitudes of sentimental and secular poets and sent into the furnace with ‘I Did It My Way’ blaring out across the speakers!”

He added: “To be brutally honest I can think of a hundred better ways of spending my time as a priest on God’s earth. What is the point of my being present if spiritually unwanted?”

Fr Tomlinson went on to question the quality of funeral for non-believers, commenting that while Christians still had the liturgy of the requiem mass to look forward to, the best secularists could hope for was “a poem from nan combined with a saccharine message from a pop star before being popped in the oven with no hope of resurrection”.

Fr Tomlinson said that priests in Britain were no longer in demand and that secularism had led to “dwindling funeral syndrome”.

“Christian funerals are only offered if explicitly requested. Today the norm is to place the liturgy in the hands of a humanist provider or ancient crumbling cleric who will do as told, in short those who will not trouble undertakers with unavailability. This is a fact that leaves me with rather mixed emotions,” he wrote.

“On the one hand I am saddened to discover yet another arena of life in which the church is moved from the centre to the margins.

“I am equally troubled that pastoral care is being left in the hands of those whose main aim is to make money. And I am further concerned that an opportunity for evangelism is slipping through our fingers.

“Atheists and secularists might delight in this fact but is it really the victory they imagine?”

Denise Cantor-Kaydar of CRUSE Bereavement Care, which offers support for people affected by death, said the vicar’s comments were “insensitive”.

"Bereavement isn't funny. We all mourn in different ways and try to select the kind of burial the person would have wanted,” she said.

In a blog posting today, Fr Tomlinson said he had not intended to attack those who mourn but rather to raise an important question about what funerals are for.

He said: "It is precisely because I do care about people, living and departed, that I spoke out.

"It is my passionate belief that a requiem mass and the Christian prayers of ‘commendation and committal’ are not mere aesthetic choices in a market place of funeral options.

"Rather something real and significant is happening, on earth and in heaven, when these take place. Because I am a priest, I want to point the way to Jesus Christ.

"Naturally there will be those who disagree with my beliefs, I think they should have the right to exercise this choice even though I believe them to be misguided.

"But if this is your position, why invite me to the party?"